Belgium: All Turbines Up at Thornton Bank Offshore Wind Farm

July 4, 2013

Yesterday, the last turbine at the offshore wind farm Thornton Bank was successfully installed. This means that the installation of all 48 wind turbines off the Belgian coast, with a combined capacity of 325 megawatts (MW), is now complete.

With the generated electricity, the power plant can supply some 600,000 Belgian housholds every year. In the third and final phase of the wind farm, a total of 24 turbines of the six-MW-class have been erected, which together have an installed capacity of 148 MW. Six of these had already been connected to the grid in 2012. The18 turbines installed in spring are planned to be commissioned in the upcoming weeks.

Thornton Bank offshore wind farm is situated 30 kilometres off the Belgian coast in waters up to 30 metres deep. The first phase of the wind farm, comprising six 5 megawatt plants, first came into operation in 2009.

Thornton Bank wind farm is one of the largest project-financed offshore wind farms in Europe. In all, eight commercials European banks, the European Investment Bank and the German and Danish export credit agencies have provided approximately 900 million euros in finance and venture capital. The total investment amounts to approximately 1.3 billion Euros. With 27 per cent, RWE Innogy is the biggest shareholder of the Thornton Bank Wind Farm.

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Press release, July 4, 2013; Image: C-Power N.V., Tom D’Haenens